Copyright © 2001 NLThomas
All Rights Reserved

July 5,2001

We are writing you this short note to give you a brief update on the Treaty Gathering which recently occurred in the Black Hills on June 29 and 30, 2001. The gathering was hosted by the Tetuwan Oyate Teton Sioux Nation Treaty Council and the American Indian Law Alliance. Treaty Gatherings are a regular aspect of the work on the Teton Sioux Nation Treaty Council and are done in order to update the people on international efforts, developments and strategies.

We believe that we are unique in the way we fulfill our responsibility to our people by sponsoring these Gatherings. The gatherings reflect the commitment of our traditional leadership of accountability to our people. We serve at their discretion. Often this results in a much slower, more difficult process but it maintains the necessary relationships that have permitted our people and culture to survive against overwhelming odds.

The Gatherings also give many of our people, who have no other forum in which to express their frustration, an opportunity to vent their views. We believe this is also an important aspect of the Gatherings and is why we always set aside significant time for "open discussion." In some small way we hope that it is a way for our people to heal some of the deep wounds that plague our communities. Of course, it also is a very costly proposition and this Gathering was our most ambitious to date. We had three times as many people register as we had anticipated and, it seems, even more at meal time. Of course, we were very happy about the large turnout and interest.

We want to thank those of you who financially supported our efforts and express our gratitude for your confidence in our work including the Fund of the Four Directions, the Flying Eagle Woman Fund, the American Indian Law Alliance, 7th Generation Fund and Medora Woods. We also want to take this opportunity to thank Willie Littlechild and Tonya Gonnela Frichner for traveling so far to attend the Gathering and for their presentation and update on the Permanent Forum.

Usually, we hold the Gatherings in communities on reservations in which the people participate in the housing and feeding of the attendees. This is also a valuable experience and a format we will not abandon. However, we feel that it was well worth it, at least at this point, to hold the Gathering in the Black Hills in the more formal setting of a conference center. Many of the people who attended thanked Tony Black Feather and other organizers simply for the opportunity to be in the sacred Black Hills for such a Gathering of our people. The elders from several of the reservation believed that the presentation of the World Court "brief" was a significant event for the people and its launch was historic enough to warrant the more ambitious Gathering.

We were also very pleased that so many representatives of other nations attended. In addition to all of the Lakota territories being represented, including the Dakota people from Sioux Valley in Canada, we had representatives of the Hobbema Cree, Treaty 6 and Treaty 4. There was also a delegation from the Navajo Nation and the Haudenosaunee. Most of our guests gave overwhelming support to our efforts and it looks as if strong alliances may result with some of the treaty nations from north of the Canadian border. We will pursue this more at the upcoming Working Group on Indigenous Populations when we will again have an opportunity for the leadership to meet face to face. In addition, we are currently circulating a resolution of support for the Teton Sioux Nation Treaty Council's International Court of Justice efforts.

We also had very positive feedback and support from the people at Pine Ridge who have established the international "embassy" for Indigenous peoples, desiring a return to the exercise of sovereignty and recognition of international human rights. This movement at Pine Ridge will be very significant to our future efforts and the mutual support and encouragement we can provide to each other, we will be a source of strength and effective advocacy.

Ellen Wright's presence from Lower Brule was also very important. She had been active in the Treaty Council for many years under the tutelage of our common relation, Chief Garfield Grass Rope, who unfortunately passed away a few years ago. In mourning, she had fallen away from international treaty advocacy. However, in conversations at the Gathering as well as in these few days since it adjourned, she has recommitted with a strength and power that will benefit us all. Ellen has been active at Lower Brule reestablishing the Brave Heart Women's Society.

As you probably know the societies were an important aspect of the traditional government and the Brave Heart Women's Society was very significant in that, traditionally, it supported the battles of our people, sometimes in active combat. Of course, today, that combat occurs in the forums of international advocacy. This development, as well as the activities at Pine Ridge in reestablishing the traditional tiyospayes, give real meaning and force to traditional government. They are acts of sovereignty.

Joann Tall expressed it succinctly when she told us that traditional government was very simple. It is and was the tiyospayes; extended families and communities that operated in concert under chiefs and headsmen with each of the societies fulfilling its assigned role. The presence of the Tokalas (young men responsible for security and seeing to the needs of the people, we had about twelve of them from Geroge Tall's tiyospaye) at the Gathering evidenced this growing movement. Again, we like to believe we are playing a small part in encouraging our people in this direction by providing them with the support on an international level that will ultimately be a part of our success as a nation.

This litany was to give you an idea of some of the things we believe result from our international advocacy in general and the Gathering more specifically. We will be preparing a formal report and send it to our mailing list of nearly 500 people. Additionally, the Gathering was videotaped and many of the elders have asked that it be edited and distributed as an educational tool.

Thank you again, to all of the participants and sponsors, Wopile, Mitakuye Oyasin

Tony Black Feather;
Kent Lebsock, Spokesman,
Legal and Corresponding Secretary;
Tetuwan Oyate/Teton Sioux Nation Treaty Council